Author: eleve

Over the summer of 2011, Aleksandra Yevteyeva studied art at the Hermitage through SRAS’s Art and Museums in Russia program. According to Yevteyeva, the experience was an immeasurably valuable one, which deepened her appreciation for world art. In her own words, it was “a most invigorating and intellectually prosperous process all on its own. [. […]

Michael Larionov was a major force in several Russian artistic movements of the early twentieth century, most notably the Primitivist, the Cubo-Futurist and the Rayonnist movements. His career went through various stages as he explored and overturned new corners of visual expression and the results shook the foundations of Russian art. Michael Larionov was born […]

The Marina Gisich Gallery began in 2000 as one of a small number of galleries bringing a contemplative, concept-driven artistic temperament to the Saint Petersburg art scene. The original artists displayed their works at Gisich to confront and change attitudes about art exhibitions. These artists included Kerim Ragimov, Vladimir Kustov, Evgenij Yufit, Marina Alexeeva, Petr […]

Natalia Goncharova, along with her colleague and companion Mikhail Larionov, led the charge in Russian Futurist painting, or Cubo-Futurism, in the early twentieth century. While her early work was heavily influenced by the French Post-Impressionists, she went on to help develop Primitivism, Rayonnism (specifically the brain-child of Larionov) and various Futurist theatrical experiments. When the […]

Mikhail Vrubel’s importance in Russian art is now undisputed, but during his own lifetime he achieved little success. He was heavily criticized for his rough, unrealistic forms, decorative use of space and strange motifs. He was a Symbolist and an expressionist at a time when most artists still ascribed to the Realist tradition of the Wanderers. […]

Socialist Realism was the official artistic movement of the U.S.S.R. It was attached not only to the revolution but to the forward momentum of the communist ideology and Soviet apparatus. As an artistic movement it is still a controversial topic. It is also a difficult one, because so much is encompassed in the concept. At […]

The influence of French Decadent poetry on Russian literature and painting at the dawn of the 20th century– particularly Baudelaire’s Fleurs du Mal –resulted in morbid, taboo and demonic themes. The term “Decadent,” however, comes with a lot of baggage. The artists who embraced Decadent themes around the turn of the century to some degree […]

The Blue Rose artists represented the second wave of Symbolist painting in 20th century Russia. They followed on the heels of the World of Art, but the two groups differed in many stylistic and philosophical ways. The Blue Rose group was more strongly influenced by the French Symbolist painters and the Russian Symbolist writers, specifically […]

The World of Art wasn’t just an artistic movement. It was a collection of art critics, painters, sculptors, thespians and clothing designers. It had feet in haute-couture, architecture and book design. It was held together by magazines and exhibitions, connected by powerful and rich benefactors. It believed, as did many movements during the artistic explosion […]

Sergei Mironenko began as one of Russia’s semidesyatniki – a group of artists who fought for expression during the changeable “stagnant era” of the 70’s. He was educated at the Gorki Theater Academy of Art in Moscow and graduated from the theatre department at MXAT in 1981. Mironenko began his artistic career when in 1978 […]

Olga Bulgakova began painting in the seventies, helping to found the surrealist/ symbolist resurgence in Russia. Her work has continued to evolve, staying consistently cutting-edge and thought-provoking throughout the eighties, nineties and into the 21st century. Today she’s still one of the most influential contemporary Russian artists. Early in her career, in 1975 she won the […]

The From Russia With Art Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts opened in August of 2010. Though it has recently closed its physical doors, it maintains an internet presence and plans to feature moving exhibitions. The museum in this way continues on much as before, selling and building knowledge of contemporary Russian-American art. The museum proprietors, Jerry […]